Friday, October 31, 2014

After trekking through so
many national parks, we were ready for a break at the beach – even Steph, who
generally considers the beach to be boring.

Of course, before catching
the ferry to the southern seaside village of Anakao, we stopped to see a few lemurs at
Zombitse National Park. Although the
park is known for its bird watching, we do not consider ourselves to be ornithologistes and opted for a shorter
circuit of the park focusing on all the fauna.
Since we had arrived too late in the day for any serious bird watching (sleep is always more exciting than birds), we had the park mostly to
ourselves. The local troop of white
sifakas entertained us from the treetops and we even stumbled across two
different nocturnal sportive lemurs, mysteriously awake during the day.

Onward to the beach! We hopped on a ferry in the coastal city of
Tulear for the hour-long trip to the coastal village. The clear blue and turquoise waters were
dotted by the pirogues of local
fishermen, each outfitted with its own distinct and colorful sail.

Our four days of
relaxation on the white sand beach of our lodge provided the ideal vacation
from our vacation, although we did take a break from watching the waves with
pina coladas in hand for a few adventures. We walked north along the beach to the village, where the local children
ran after us, playing a game that we have named “touch the vazaha.” (Vazaha means
foreigner and the game is pretty much exactly what it sounds like.) Of course, they really only
wanted to touch the blonde vazaha. This has never happened to us on another beach vacation -- imagine walking down the beach in Mexico with
a troop of children in pursuit, shouting gringa,
gringa!

Our trip to town was also
notable for our failure to bargain with any of the local stores for cheap beer
(we considered the price at our hotel to be exorbitant); a delicious lunch at
an Italian restaurant with owners from near Domodossola; and finding a local
dog that followed us back to our lodge and spent the rest of the vacation with
us (Steph christened him François).

We also attempted to walk
south along the sand to an island reachable on foot only at low tide, but gave
up on the endeavor when we realized we were not even halfway there after an
hour of trekking and the accompanying blisters.

On the way back, Steph stepped on (and presumably killed) a mysterious
beach monster. Particularly scary was
the constant oozing of dark purple liquid that followed. Much googling for “ink secreting animals +
Madagascar” indicated it was an innocuous sea slug, so her concerns about the
possibly poisonous ink turned out to be unfounded.

Our trip to Nosy Ve was a
more successful island-bound adventure.
We took one of the hotel's sailing pirogues
out to a small island off the coast, where we snorkeled in the large coral reef
and explored the strip of beach. The
reef off the coast in Anakao is one of the largest reefs in the world. However, slash and burn farming further
inland leads to river runoff that causes coral bleaching, so what is known as
Madagascar’s great reef is sadly damaged in many locations.

On Sunday, we left the beach and
mentally prepared ourselves for two more domestic flights via Air Madagascar –
they always yield special stories. The following day, we
headed to Masoala National Park – a completely different type of beach on the
completely opposite end of the island where the water collides with primary
forest at the shoreline.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

From
Madagascar’s hauts plateaux and the mountains of Andringita,
we entered the country’s vast southern plains last Saturday. Our
destination was Isalo National Park, which according to everything we had read,
was Madagascar’s answer to Colorado (although one guidebook suggested the
landscape more closely mirrored that of Arizona). Our guide
had been flipping through photos of Colorado and was quite adamant about the
comparison as well. Approaching the mesas and other rock formations
rising out of the plains, we could easily imagine we were somewhere in the
American southwest.

However, our explorations
into the park clearly indicated that we were not, after all, anywhere near
Colorado. Unless Colorado is home to jungle-filled canyons with
lemurs, that is. It turns out that the canyons cutting into the rock face
at various intervals are full of lush vegetation, including trees jutting out
from the sheer canyon walls at varying heights. Throughout the park, we also encountered a weird plant commonly referred to as the Elephant's Foot Plant,
which resembles a mini-baobab. Giorgio likes to refer to it as the bonsai
baobab.

Early Sunday morning, we
set off to explore one of Isalo's longer trails. As we began to
scale one of the mesas, several unusual noises greeted us. Our
guide, Felix, beckoned us to follow him quickly up the path, where we spotted
a large troop of ring-tailed lemurs scampering across the
rocks. They were in quite the rush, calling to one another loudly as
they traversed the rock face.

As we continued our hike
amidst the towering rocks, Felix pointed out various formations that had taken
the shape of animals, body parts, or even shoes (which were actually part of
Malagasy tale involving a roaming giant).

Sighting the gregarious
lemur troop was certainly a highlight, although we hadn’t planned our visit to
Isalo around tracking lemurs and other animals. (Regardless, check
out this stick insect – can you see where the branch ends and the crazy bug
begins?)

In addition to pointing out
unusual fauna, Felix also showed us all sorts of endemic medicinal plants.
We were particularly intrigued by the beautiful pink flowers which he
told us cure leukemia when made into a tea. Incredibly skeptical, we
later googled this assertion, only to discover that the rosy periwinkle flowers possess a compound used in certain leukemia drugs.

After reaching the top of
the first mesa, the unique desert landscape became even more
striking. We hiked past most of the crowds and felt that we had the
park to ourselves.

Several small (and large)
oases were hidden in the harsh rock faces. Peaceful piscines naturelles were concealed among the rocks and canyons, along with the occasional waterfall,
like the gorgeous cascade des nymphes.

We had briefly checked the
weather prior to setting out and were surprised that our iPhones predicted rain
in the afternoon. Our understanding was that rainy season wouldn’t
start until November. When we mentioned this unusual forecast to
Felix, he flat out informed us that it was certainly incorrect – it would never
rain in October. That afternoon, as we entered one of the piscines
naturelles (the black pool to be more specific) we felt a few drops of
water. Was it just from the waterfall a few meters
away? Soon the droplets multiplied and we were swimming in the
rain. Pointing this out to Felix, he scoffed once again and informed
us that no, it does not rain in October. After changing back into
our now-wet clothes, it started pouring. As we set off back down the trail
and passed various hikers in ponchos, Felix grudgingly admitted that yes, maybe
it was raining after all. Perhaps it was global warming?

Monday, we opted for a
shorter, albeit equally scenic, trek up two different canyons. After walking
through the village and rice paddies at the base of the canyon, we entered Maki
Canyon followed by the Canyon des Rats. Sheer cliffs dropped 200
meters to the boulder-strewn rivers that had created the
canyons. Bright green vegetation covered large swaths of the
impressive cliffs.

In addition to hiking
through the unusual landscapes surrounding us, we were also lucky enough to
soak up the environment at our hotel.

For our three-night stay, we landed in the midst of the rock formations. As an added bonus, there were even horses grazing outside our room.Of course, the best part was that the
aptly-named Jardin du Roy was inordinately excited to discover it was our
“honeymoon.”(Note: We do not go around
telling each and every hotel that we are on our honeymoon, because that would
be ridiculous.However, all of the
vouchers from our travel agency have a note indicating we are on our voyage de noces.)Each evening, we were seated at an embarrassingly
tacky date table and plied with various flavors of rum arrangée. Plus they gave us
a keepsake rock in the shape of a heart.

About Us

Gio's Description: We are citizens of the world!
Steph's Description: Follow our newlywed adventures from NYC to Africa to SE Asia and finally, to Peru! (With a few stops for weddings along the way.) All adventures planned and documented by Steph, photographed by Gio. As you will probably notice, lots of our adventures involve ponies, seeing wild animals and/or drinking wine. Enjoy!
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